A DISTRICT council decision to charge people for bio-degradable garden waste sacks is to be reviewed, after it was feared that the cost would deter people from recycling.

Epping Forest Council, while providing the first roll of 20 bio-degradable sacks free of charge, has introduced a £3 cost for additional rolls.

North Weald Conservative councillor Dave Stallan said he accepted the reasoning for imposing the charge but "did not realise the strength of feeling" there would be about the cost.

After Mr Stallan won support for a motion put to last week's full council meeting, the cabinet will now review the situation and consider what should happen with the existing charging policy.

Mr Stallan told the meeting: "We need to encourage our residents to recycle more. I do not believe this will be accomplished by a punitive charge on our residents."

He said that on one day May 29 this year the council collected 117 tonnes of green waste compared with 37 tonnes on the same day last year, and added that a survey had shown a 79 per cent satisfaction rate with elements of doorstep recycling facilities provided by the council.

But Mr Stallan added: "Despite this, according to the Best Value Performance Indicator for 2003-04, we are only likely to recycle 8.5 per cent of our green waste compared with a target of ten per cent. If we continue to charge for these bags, how will we reach our target for 2004-05 of 12 per cent?"

A council spokesman said: "The original decision by members to charge for the garden refuse sacks was taken for financial reasons. The new type of bio-degradable sacks are much more expensive compared with the previous type.

"The council decided, in common with other councils such as Brentwood, that an element of charging we provide the first roll of 20 for free would help to keep the cost of the council tax down."